In a relief to Shiv Sena MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, the Supreme Court Monday asked newly-elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar not to proceed with the plea seeking their disqualification which was sought by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group on the ground of defying party whip during the trust vote and the election of the speaker.
The top court is seized of several petitions of the Thackeray faction arising out of the rebellion in Shiv Sena which first led to the downfall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by the Sena supremo and the consequential appointment of Shinde as his successor with the help of Bharatiya Janata Party.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal that several pleas of the Uddhav faction, which were to be listed on Monday, have not been listed for hearing.
"The court had said the petitions would be listed on July 11. I urge that there should be no disqualification till the matter is decided here," Sibal said, adding that earlier the top court had protected the rebel MLAs when they had approached it.
"Our disqualification petition is listed tomorrow before the speaker... Either way, there should not be any disqualification till the matter is decided. These matters have to be decided here," the senior lawyer said.
"Mr (Tushar) Mehta (Solicitor General who was appearing for the Governor), You please inform the assembly speaker not to take any hearing. Let us see, we will hear the matter," the bench said.
The solicitor general (SG) said though he was appearing for Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and he would convey the message to the assembly speaker.
The court said the matter be listed after Tuesday after setting up the bench.
On July 3, Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. He had polled 164 votes and defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.
A day before the floor test, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Narvekar had recognised Gogawale as the Shiv Sena's chief whip, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction.
After winning the trust vote in the state Assembly on July 4, the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena had issued a notice to 14 legislators from the Uddhav Thackeray camp for violating a whip issued by the Sena whip and Shinde loyalist Bharat Gogawale.
Both sides have accused each other of defying the party whip during the Speaker's election and the trust vote on July 3 and 4, respectively, seeking disqualification of the legislators from both sides.
Maharashtra legislature secretary also came into the picture and issued show-cause notices to 53 out of the total 55 Shiv Sena MLAs in the state -- 39 of the faction led by Shinde and 14 of the Uddhav Thackeray group.
The notices have been issued under the Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (disqualification on grounds of defection) rules.
In the trust vote, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.
The Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, whose current strength is 287 due to the death of a Sena legislator.
The Thackeray faction has also challenged the validity of assembly proceedings held on July 3 and July 4 in which a new speaker of the House was elected and subsequent proceedings of floor test in which the Shinde-led coalition had proved its majority.
It has also filed a plea challenging the decision of the newly-elected Speaker to recognise the new party whip of Shiv Sena rebels led by CM Shinde.
Prior to this, chief whip Sunil Prabhu of the Thackeray faction had moved the top court seeking suspension from the assembly of the chief minister and 15 rebel MLAs against whom the disqualification pleas are pending.
The vacation bench of the court had on June 27 granted interim relief to the Shinde faction by extending the time for replying to the disqualification notices sent to 16 rebel Sena MLAs till July 12.
On June 29, the Maharashtra governor ordered a floor test leading the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to rush to the top court seeking its deferment.
The bench refused to stay the direction of the Governor to the 31-month-old MVA government to take a floor test in the assembly to prove its majority after which the then beleaguered chief minister Uddhav Thackeray quit office.
After Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30, Prabhu moved to the top court seeking his suspension and of 15 rebels on various grounds, alleging that they are 'acting as pawns of the BJP, thereby committing the constitutional sin of defection'.
